Adam

Got some sprinkles and high humidity this morning(around 90%), and the Pathfinder is definitely handling the rain better. It's pretty much a night and day difference. Thanks!

Got a new distributor cap, as the junkyard Pathfinder is gone now... Didn't change anything. I'm going to check my timing belt this weekend, make sure I did it just right, and I'm going to also redo all the rewiring I did with solder instead of crimp connectors.

This morning it's idling rougher, I have to hold my foot on the gas or it'll just about die, dips around 500-600rpm if I'm not giving it a little gas... I'm going to snag the MAF sensor and TPS sensor from the junkyard today while I get the distributor... I'm also likely going to verify my timing belt install this weekend.

I got pretty good with setting the timing with how many times I've taken the distributor out

Alright, so I added the extra ground, and it made a difference in off the line power immediately, but I've still got the miss from 2-2.5k, feels like a rather random miss, not predictable at all... It's not humid enough for the humidity issue, the rains from the hurricane seem to be gone... We'll see what happens when I swap the distributor... if anything, it'll be one more thing narrowed out, and cheap from the boneyard...

That is awesome! I searched for weather, didn't think to try humidity. Thanks for the links, I'm gonna pull the Pathfinder around back and try this right now!

So my Pathfinder's been running well lately, except when the humidity is really high. If it's raining, it's even worse. It doesn't have much power before 2.5k rpm, runs rough, past 3k or so it's fine, but even maintaining speed is causing popping out the exhaust, it'll backfire a lot when it's humid as well, as if, for some reason, it's deciding it needs to run super rich when it's humid out... Any ideas? A run-down of the latest work since I'm sure not everyone saw my other thread... Timing belt is new, spark plugs, wires, rotor, throttle body was cleaned, fuel rail and fuel injectors replaced, air filter is new, maf sensor was cleaned, O2 sensor and cat replaced, exhaust leaks fixed. I just passed over 200k this morning too... I'm also only averaging 13-14mpg... I haven't replaced the distributor cap yet, but I'm considering swapping the distributor next, I'm not sure if it's working properly or not, could the crank angle sensor cause issues like this? No codes from the ECU either, everything is normal.

Well, I passed! I adjusted the TPS, brought it back, failed, they let me adjust the TPS again, adjusted it the other way, passed in training mode, then they ran the full test, and gave me my sticker!

Bumping this up. I just took the emissions test, and my NOx is way out of spec on the 15mph, everything else is way way below spec, and everything else passed(though NOx on 25mph test only barely made it). Did some Googling, 2 things stuck out to me... EGR, which I haven't replaced yet, but I have a replacement ready to go in, and running lean. I'm most likely absolutely running lean, because I'm running a bored out MAF, .125 over, meaning I'm putting more air in while the sensor still thinks I'm putting the same amount in. The first thing I'm going to do right now though is replace the EGR, and if that does it, then I'll skip the MAF, but I can get the MAF for cheap at the junkyard, so no biggy... Any other suggestions to get the NOx down?

Wow, I want that rear bumper

Came home and timed it, its great now. Hopefully this means it can pass emissions too!

O2 sensor wasn't seated properly, fixed that and now it runs much better, though a little weak off the line, and if I'm coasting slowly and go to accelerate without kicking down, its really hesitant, and there's an audible sound, almost a clicking, like a relay or something...

That was a bust.... plug the o2 sensor back in and it runs worse than ever until 2k, then after 2k its a banshee... with the o2 unplugged it still runs rich but at least can accelerate off idle...

At the exhaust shop, they're gonna chop out the flange that leaks and weld a new section of pipe in... the cat is getting replaced as well, the bolts holding it in were welded in, so I couldn't replace it myself. Hopefully this is the end of my saga...

One thing that would be pretty awesome would be to take a hardbody bed and integrate it into the rear, so you have a tailgate.

Decided I might as well take care of it now, since it's one of the last things left, gonna replace the cat with a Magnaflow unit, 101 shipped isn't too much to spend on that. Pretty soon, I won't have anything left to do besides rebuild the engine

I'm also wondering about this, if that's not potentially the reason why it's also popping the gasket, the path of least resistance...

I don't think its wires or plugs... the quality of the duralast wires seems pretty high. I still have the originals, but they were arcing to the cylinder head. The old plugs were platinum +2's, still have those around, and they ran great before the parking, so I didn't throw them out just in case... I'm gonna get a new cap next payday or when my tax return comes in, but I'm looking for any other suggestions...

MAF sensor was cleaned. Another tidbit of info, my MAF is bored .125" over, never had an issue with it before, so I'm going to keep assuming that it isn't MAF related. Air filter is a Krap 'n Nasty... Yes, the truck sat for 2 years, but I replaced the fuel filter, the fuel rails, and the pump is pumping quite fine. It's also already gone through 3 tanks of gas now... Also, if it were gunk in the system, the engine would poorly all the time, not just when the O2 sensor is plugged in... The I just got done replacing the gasket again after wrestling with a stripped exhaust screw, and I find out that the gasket still doesn't seal... I put a pair of vice grips on it for now, but it seems like it's also not sealing at the top of the flange... I'm not sure what to do about this... Maybe bend the tabs for the flange so the middle seats better? It's still running pretty rough, until past 2krpm, then it's as close to a rocket as a Pathfinder can get I think the gasket issue is what's causing a lot of the problems with the O2 sensor, since it obviously can't get a proper reading if the exhaust is exiting before it gets to the O2 sensor...

Just replaced my O2 sensor, and the gasket that goes before it(which coincidentally blew out again... High quality stuff O'Reillys!), but I'm still getting a misfire... It's only misfiring below 2krpms, above 2k power is great, it runs great, does highway really well, but accelerating from a stop is a little dicey... Now the kicker... When the O2 sensor is disconnected, it runs so much better, it gets off the line quite well, but still has a rather random misfire... When the O2 sensor is connected, it sounds like the misfire is consistent, not random. I've replaced every piece of the ignition besides the distributor cap and the actual distributor, so that'd include plugs, wires, coil, ignitor, rotor. Plugs are all gapped consistently, I believe at .026 is where they were gapped stock(Bosch Platinums). Fuel filter was changed, timing belt(and the alignment marks all lined up with their corresponding dimples). With the O2 sensor, and the new gasket, backfiring stopped, so I think it's close to passing emissions now, but this stumble is driving me nuts... Distributor cap? Crank angle sensor? I'm at a loss, and I've got no codes...

I had an 84 RX7 GSL, I remember those damned things.

Aren't the "fuses" in the engine bay all the relays? First thing I thought was the Main relay, but he said he checked those, so who knows.

You checked the terminals on the battery? Made sure they were tightened properly?

This is my favorite part of going to the junkyard The Pathfinder in my local junkyard has the OEM Nissan steps on it, but they're welded onto the frame in the rear... I really, really want them. Gonna have to hacksaw the weld off or something, they only want $50 for them.

So... I swapped the O2 sensor with the junkyard one, but it made no difference... So I just disconnected it... It immediately started idling perfectly, and it had more power throughout the entire power band... It also didn't backfire anymore. Guess I just need to buck up and get a brand new O2 sensor... I got the emissions run(guy ran it in training mode so as to not use up my free re-inspect) with the O2 sensor disconnected, and where it was some 6x the limit for hydrocarbons before, it was only 2x now, 300, while the limit is 170... My Carbon Monoxide actually went up though... I also noticed an exhaust gasket by the cat was blown out... bleh... Tired of messing with this, I just want to get it back to 100%